Sprinting Towards Gomorrah

Have you ever wondered what it looks like when a culture collapses? Have you ever wondered if past cultures that collapsed throughout history knew what was about to happen to them? Did they see it coming, or were they blindsided by it?

I’ve often asked myself those questions, but now I’m also asking myself a new one. Provided the Lord chooses not to return and culminate history, I’m now wondering if future generations will ask the same questions about us?

There are several telltale signs of a culture in decline, or on the brink of collapse. One of which is when a culture fails to safeguard its future and ceases to be good stewards of its next generation. Wanting our children to have a better future than we had is one of the most basic instincts of those who are image-bearers of the Creator. Even some of the most cunning and ruthless men in human history were doting fathers. It takes an especially toxic and potent mixture of narcissism and self-loathing to produce a culture that no longer places the needs of its offspring above its most carnal desires.

And I’m not even talking about abortion, which is the gravest moral injustice of our time. Tragically, anthropologists will tell you every culture in human history has eventually practiced some form of child sacrifice. Ours is just the next in line. The only difference is we’re not sacrificing our kids to a pagan deity for a bountiful harvest or eternal salvation. We sacrifice our babies on the altar of personal convenience instead.

But you can’t expect a culture to protect its unborn when it has so little regard for its already-born, and there are two recent stories that indicate we could seemingly care less about our children.

ABC News just did a story on the “gospel of polyamory,” which means having multiple romantic and sexual partners in an open relationship together. Titled “the end of marriage,” the story said “more couples are opting to become triples or fourples, with live-in lovers spicing up the marital bed and helping to raise the children.”

The natural human family (i.e. one man and one woman living together in holy matrimony) is one of the cornerstones of a civilized society, for its how we’re intended to procreate the species while also passing along our value system to the next generation. What kind of value system is being passed on to the children of such relationships? What kind of value system do you think they’ll champion once they become adults?

Probably one that looks sadly similar to what we saw during this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

There was Snoopy, Spider-Man, SpongeBob, Hello Kitty, and cross-dressers. Wait? What? Were those actual cross-dressers? As in actual men dressed in drag?

It’s true. This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade featured a performance from the cast of the hit Broadway musical Kinky Boots, complete in all their risqué cross-dressing regalia. Kinky Boots is about the “heroic” exploits of a “fabulous drag queen performer” (and is there any other kind?) named Lola, who teaches her stodgy Northern England village a politically-correct lesson about acceptance all the while saving a family shoe business. Two of the memorable songs from Kinky Boots are titled “Sex is in the heel” and “I am not my father’s son.”

Probably not what most Americans had in mind when they turned on the TV to watch the parade with their kids, I would imagine. Drag queens are now “TV-G” according to NBC. Of course, if you disagree you’re just a “hater” and a “bigot.” Some liberals on Twitter were actually excited that parents at the parade or watching it on TV might have to explain “trannies” to their children.

Adults caught in the tangled web of immorality used to put on a false front if it meant protecting the innocence of our children. Now we shamelessly flaunt our impurities and condemn those who don’t want to rob their children of their innocence. And I say this as someone who is not a prude, and I’m sometimes criticized by some of my fellow Christians for my willingness to discuss sexuality honestly.

But there’s having an all-too-honest discussion about the world we live in and the struggles we all face within it among fellow adults, and then there’s targeting children with beliefs and behaviors even pagan and humanistic societies knew enough to shield their children from.

The “red light district” is becoming “Main Street, USA” in our day and age.

Who knows, maybe we’ll escape the cultural catastrophe that has been the result of all other historic examples of “human nature gone wild.” But I doubt it. Ironically, this is all happening as politically correct Hollywood is gearing up its publicity machine for a movie next spring with an A-list cast about the great flood and Noah’s Ark, which is the first example in history of what happens to a civilization when fallen human nature refuses to be restrained.

However, at least one early reviewer of the film’s script says the movie bypasses all of that to espouse environmentalist propaganda instead. In a blog titled “Darren Aronofsky’s Noah: Environmentalist Wacko,” filmmaker Brian Godawa says, “If you were expecting a biblically faithful retelling of the story of the greatest mariner in history and a tale of redemption and obedience to God, you’ll be sorely disappointed.”

So on one hand our culture shows contempt and disdain for its future generations. And then is so narcissistic that it thinks it can unilaterally revise the standard for judgment and accountability for such heinous actions on the other.

This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade featured a performance from the cast of the hit Broadway musical Kinky Boots, complete in all their risqué cross-dressing regalia.

Genesis 13:13

Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

Genesis 18:20-21
20. Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21. that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

Genesis 19:4-7
4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7. and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.

Psalms 12:8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.

Doonesbury Cartoon for Feb/08/2013

Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.

Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

2 Peter 2

1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.

But there IS hope!!!

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape...

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